Rashard Mendenhall – Fantasy Value Moving Forward
Alex Dunlap, Rosterwatch.com

Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week in NFL Week 6, delighting Fantasy Football owners with his 146-yard 1 TD performance in a win over the Jaguars Sunday. It was his first 100-yard outing this season.

This performance came against a Jaguars team that is not particularly strong against the run as far as yardage is concerned, but that is not the stat we are most interested in for fantasy purposes. Only 7 teams in the league give up fewer points to opposing Running Backs than the Jaguars. They are a tough out against RBs from a fantasy perspective.

“He did a nice job.” Head Coach Mike Tomlin told the media yesterday. “He played well. He’s healthy.”

We here at Rosterwatch pay most attention to those last two words. Tomlin is not from the school of Shanahan and Belichik injury mind-games.

After starting the season as a major disappointment, Mendenhall’s fantasy arrow seems to be pointing upward. Mendenhall owners are in a little bit of a Frank Gore post-Week 4 mode right now. By that, I mean a small bit of faith has been restored in the player that they drafted early; only to get stinker after stinker fantasy production-wise to start the season.

As we all know, Frank Gore has returned to form and those who sold him for peanuts before his breakout game in Philadelphia (the game Kendall Hunter started and many Frank Gore owners like yours truly benched him)are likely hurting right now.

In Week 7, the Steelers will travel to visit the Cardinals, who represent a much easier matchup than the Jaguars. It seems like an excellent opportunity to keep the ball rolling and build on the much-needed momentum this performance brought back to the Steelers’ rushing attack.

Two big games in a row will drive Mendenhall’s price up to what it was preseason, given the Rosterwatch Production/Name Value Ratio

He looked great and I’m anticipating a return to form. If you’re interested in trading for him, this might be the last week you will be able to do so at a discount.